05-10-2016, 12:51 PM
1457881958-11Mar16STRATEGYFORANEWPARTTIMEMBAPROGRAMME.docx (Size: 17.93 KB / Downloads: 3)
INTRODUCTION
1. Going to school for getting an MBA just for the sake of degree or knowledge is not of great value when you step into the real world of business. The value in MBA is all about building your leadership skills, networking, understanding how the system works and honing many communication and personality skills that you would not worry about as a regular MS graduate. The point is, MBA is not a technical degree like MS and just getting expertise in the subject will not suffice. To be a successful manager, you have to hone your leadership skills and need to know how to work with or manage people.
2. There are two ways to acquire a MBA degree viz: Full time course or part time course. In order to decide whether a part time vis-à-vis full time MBA course is more beneficial to a person, he needs to consider the following:-
(a) Focus on Education, Not Networking. A part time MBA is geared toward education. If you have an established career and are looking to accelerate your trajectory with limited disruption, a part time program is the perfect solution. The downside is that virtually all part time students hold jobs and have little time to devote to socializing. Consequently, don't expect the same networking opportunities as you would in a full time program.
(b) Expensive...but You Keep Your Job. A part time MBA can be just as expensive as its full time brethren in terms of tuition, but the opportunity cost of foregone wages disappears. Classes are normally held in the evenings of weekends, so you can hold onto your day time job, so long as you're not working sixteen-hour days as an investment banking analyst. If you're in a high paying position, the ability to work and go to school translates to significant savings.
© No Internship Opportunities. Since you'll be working at your full time job in the summer, you won't be able to apply for internships elsewhere. This is only costly if you're a career switcher, as internships are an outstanding way to build experience in a new field. However, if you're using the MBA as a way to boost your existing career, this becomes a non issue.
(d) Mixed Quality Programs. The record of part time MBA programs is rather mixed. This is due to the fact that it's often easier to get into a part time MBA program than a full time one. Moreover, since almost all students hold full time jobs, they are more likely to be less focused and dedicated to school. The combination of lower admissions standards and working students can have a negative effect on your experience. In addition, the full-time MBA student has the benefit of immersion in his or her program, as well as constant and daily exposure to the professors and other students on the course. It also allows for a bit of distance, a step away from the workplace, in order to evaluate the student’s thoughts and feelings about how their career is evolving.
(e) Higher Likelihood of Tuition Reimbursement. You stand a better chance of getting financial support from your employer if you enroll in a part time MBA than a full time one. Some larger companies sponsor their employees' education entirely, while others provide aid in the form of subsidized loans. After all, you'll apply what you learn in school in your job, day in and day out. And by the end of the program, you'll have a new credential and become more valuable to your company.
(f) Overload Issues. One of the biggest complaints of part time MBA programs is work life balance. Holding a job and studying part time for your MBA is a lot to juggle, particularly if you have a family, a demanding career, or both. Research your school's course schedule and time commitment ahead of time to make an informed decision.
(g) Longer Time to Earn MBA. A part time MBA program may take longer to complete than a full time one. Consequently, instead of completing your studies within one or two years, it may take two or three. This isn't necessarily bad, it simply means that your journey will be a longer one.
THE PRODUCT AND ITS KEY CHARACTERISTICS
3. Part time MBA programs offer a variety of benefits and drawbacks compared to full time programs. Virtually all part time students hold full time jobs and study in their spare time. The major advantage is that you get to keep your day job, allowing you to earn money while you go to school. However, this flexibility comes at a price. The quality of your classes, career switching opportunities, and work life balance all stand to suffer in part time programs. The course will be highly successful if the student gets the proper education which he or she wants in his or her area of education or field of interest, master the skills and build the network they need to realize their highest career aspirations.
4. The institute (JBIMS) offers broadest array of global opportunities, an unparalleled approach to leadership development and a curriculum that builds well-rounded leaders. All prospective part time MBA students have the flexibility to customise their class schedule by choosing from a variety of programs offered by the institute (the Evening MBA or Saturday MBA programs) as well as follow a Traditional or Accelerated pace to earn their degree. This unique approach of the institution ensures that by the time the part time MBA students graduate, they share the same toolkit, skills and network as other prominent alumni pursuing a full time MBA program at the institute.
5. The institution offers part time MBA programs on the following three core business growth oriented fields:-
(a) Management of Information Systems
(b) Marketing
© Finance
6. By targeting such subject areas that are highly relevant for today’s management professionals, each of these specializations provides cutting-edge business knowledge combined with a clear direction for the future. The selection and recruitment process for this course can be similar to the one for the full time or regular part time M.B..A. The preferred method of selecting students for the course in today's world is thorugh an online examination held at national level. This approach provides opportunity to attaract students from all over the country to the program offered by the institute.
7. The new strategy for the part time MBA program offered by the institute is to have a mix of online courses especially designed for the target audience on weekdays and contact programs with illustrious faculty of the institute on Saturday evenings. This contemporary technique provide dual advantages to the prospective students. On weekdays the students can share their evenings with family members as well as devote certain amount of time for online studies. This is bound to increase the happiness quotient of the students wherein the socio-physical and intelectual needs are accomplished side by side.
8. The contact programs on Saturday evenings would provide a platform for networking and interacting with industrial honchos (brought as guest lecturers by the institution) as well as clear conceptual doubts of the students. Self assessment modules as per syllabi available online at the institution website would enable the students to undertake self evaluation on weekends. This unique curriculum would not only prepare the students for a better position in industry but also look after their socio-physical and intelectual needs.
9. The institute also offers pure online part time MBA courses on above mentioned subjects. The students are provided access to the institution website through user id and passwords after due registration and selection by appropriate authorities. The selection of students for this course also can be through an online exam held at national level. The students are expected to go through the course material hosted at the institution website at their own time and be prepared for the online examinations scheduled by the institutiton. The advantage is that the student can give the exam from where ever they are residing and need not come to the institution for appearing in the examination. The students also remain in touch with the institution authorities through email and can take part in extra curricular activities organised by the institution like other regular students.
THE COMPETITIVE OFFERS IN THE MARKET TODAY
10. After the government has brought in certain liberalisation in the education sector, lot of private operators have jumped into the bandwagon of building educational infrastructure & offering variety of courses to the prospective students. This has filled the demand & supply gap because of limited seats offered by government funded institutes vis-a-vis large number of prospective students in an ever increasing population in our country. Specifically, the number of institutions offering MBA program to prospective students has gone up manifold and created a huge competition in the market.
11. Now the institutes like SP Jain Institute of Management Studies or Narsee Monji Institute of Management studies can also start online executive courses coupled with the Saturday or Weekend classes for the prospective students. This will call in for the competition from the local and regional institute also. Similarly, lot of foreign Universities have also opened campuses in India for offering MBA degrees. Universities like Hardward’s University or Michigan University or Colombia University or Oxford University or Cambridge university can come and open the campus in the city of Mumbai or any other big city of their preference. This will call in for more of competition from these institutes.
12. Narsee Monji Institute of Management studies has been given the status of deemed university. The advantage of the deemed university is that clerks and the students do not have to go to the university for each and small work. The decisions can be taken in the university campus itself. The institute can take decisions independently. The mark sheets and the degree certificate are also available in the University i.e. Institutes premises. This is not so in case of Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies. This is the negative point as far as the choosing of the independent or deemed university is considered by prospective students of JBIMS.
13. Then to get the admission in the any course will not be an easier task. Lot many students will be competing for the fewer seats because of the liberalisation of the education and better education imparted in any of the institutes of Hardward’s or Michigan. People may not opt for the courses in the J.B.I.M.S. University of Mumbai because of the lure for the foreign universities their name and the brand label. Hence the University of Mumbai has to enhance the level of the education for the imparting of the education for the online MBA course to compete better with any other university or other famous institutes.
THE KEY SUCCESS FACTORS FOR THE COURSE. WHAT DO STAKE HOLDERS PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS AND PROSPECTIVE EMPLOYERS WANT
14. Part time MBA programs offer a variety of benefits and drawbacks compared to full time programs. Virtually all part time students hold full time jobs and study in their spare time. The major advantage is that you get to keep your day job, allowing you to earn money while you go to school. However, this flexibility comes at a price. The quality of your classes, career switching opportunities, and work life balance all stand to suffer in part time programs. The course will be highly successful if the student gets the proper education which he or she wants in his or her area of education or field of interest.
15. In order to make the course a gtreat success, the institution has to satisfy the needs of both stakeholders viz: prospective students and the prospective employers. The prospective students would like that the institution should have high quality faculty, affordable fee structure and a good placement policy, tie ups with leading industries. After all, everybody is studying for the purpose of earning. The standard of training imparted and the syllabi of the courses should be prepared in sync with the contemporary industry requirements and flexible enough for undertaking revision at regular intervals.
16. Where as the prospective employers would like that the institution should offer industry ready students where the industry has to put in least amount of additional training to get work out of the students of the institution. This cost saving gesture plus knowledgeable manpower offering capability of the educational institute should be harnessed to the maximum with leading industry houses through MoUs.
SWOT ANALYSIS
17. In order to formulate the strategies, the academic institution has to first undertake an environmental analysis, which would involve deeply examining the external and internal environmental factors under which the institution would exist. In order to do this, we go for a SWOT analysis (Strength, Weakness, Opportunities & Threats Analysis). The strength and weaknesses of the organisation would be based on the internal environmental factors. Where as, the opportunities and threats would be governed by the external environmental factors. These issues are discussed in detail in ensuing paragraphs.
Internal Environmental Factors
18. Strengths of the Institution. The organisation has to first undertake an internal audit using the available manpower and resources to determine the strengths of the organisation, specially for the following:-
(a) The learned faculties available in the institution for providing classroom instructions. In addition, the laboratories available for conducting various experiments related to the syllabi and posession of a good library with ample number of contemporary books is a big plus for the organisation. These factors would in turn govern the subjects that can be offered by the institution to the prospective students eg: Human Resource Managemnt, Finance Managemnt or Marketing Managemnt etc.
(b) The size of classrooms, student to teacher ratio and type/ number of hostel facility available in the institution will govern the number of students that can be enrolled per batch for a particular course.
© In order to increase attractiveness quotient of a course, the institution has to have a good placement policy, tie ups with leading industries. After all, everybody is studying for the purpose of earning. The standard of training imparted and the syllabi of the courses should be prepared in sync with the contemporary industry requirements and flexible enough for undertaking revision at regular intervals.
19. Weaknesses of the Institution. The organisation has to clearly understand its potentially weak areas and attempt to improve upon them. Incremental improvement continuously makes an organisation stronger and makes it grow strength to strength.
External Environmental Factors
20. Opportunities Available to the Institution. The organisation has to keep scanning the external environmental factors discussed below to exploit the opportunities as they don't knock at out dorr again and again. Timely action towards acknowledging an opportunity and developing suitable plans towards its exploitation, fetches big rewards to the institution. The following may be considered as opportunities for academic institutions offering part time or full time MBA:-
(a) Identifying the contemporary requirements of the industry and developing course curriculum, which fulfills this requirement of industry.
(b) Offering industry ready students to leading firms through exclusive partnership models where the industry has to put in least amount of additional training to get work out of the students of the institution. This cost saving gesture plus knowledgeable manpower offering capability of the educational institute should be harnessed to the maximum with leading industry houses through MoUs.
© Hiring of faculties from institutes of repute from abroad to meet the shortcomings of non-availability of required faculty locally, has to be undertaken by the academic institutes to prove that no stone has been left unturned to provide a worldclass academic envornment to its students. These exclusive tie ups with foreign academic institutions or universities will provide a better exposure to the students and make them understand global requirements of the industry. This would enhance their employbility factor internationally. Finally this would provide a filip to the brand name of the academic institute too.
21. Threats to the Institution. The organisation also has to look for threats from external environment in form of competitors, who have the potential to offer similar courses and attarct prospective students to those institutions by offering lower fees, flexibility in time for conduct of classroom instructions, library facility and ensuring availability of online study material. The institutions also have to be aware about the current rules and regulations of the government regarding courses being offered to students. They also have to make all out efforts to obtain necessary accreditions/ approval of relevant authorities to provide a solid legal backing to the activities of the academic institution.
SOLUTIONS TO OFFER A PART TIME MBA BY AN INSTITUTION BASED ON ABOVE MENTIONED FACTORS IN PARAGRAPHS 14 TO 21
22. In order to formulate a strategy for becoming a successful institution for offering part time MBA, the organisation has to have a 'Vision'. The vision should describe what are the intentions of the organisation in long term (future) very clearly, so that the prospective students feel proud to be associated with such a illustrative organisation. In other words, it should describe where the organisation sees itself after atleast a decade.
23. The 'Vision' would give rise to formulation of the 'Mission Statement' of the organisation, which would focus on the path to be followed by the organisation to accomplish the 'Vision'. The 'Strategy' would flow from the 'Mission Statement', where methods/ processes or procedures that will be adopted by the organisation are described in detail, in order to achieve the 'Mission'.
24. The formulation of strategies or in other words solutions to all factors mentioned in paras 14 to 21 are as follows:-
(a) The institute has to first decide what all subjects they can offer to prospective students keeping in mind the following factors:-
(i) How many competitors are there in market.
(ii) Hire relevant faculty for conducting the selected courses. The faculty can be a combination of full time and visiting category.
(iii) We have to formulate the curriculum for these courses. The class timings, instructors, guide for projects, examination policy etc have to be designed whilst ensuring optimum utilisation of available resources.
(iv) The course content/ study material for the students have to be developed for online courses and hosted on the institution website.
(v) A well stocked library having all reference books required for the planned courses also have to be set up in the institution.
(vi) The actions of the institution should be backed up by legal compliance. In other words, the accredition of the institution with appropriate regulatory government agencies and obtaining necessary approvals from government agencies are also to be ensured.
(vii) The most important factor is the amounts of funds available to undertake all above mentioned tasks. The management of the institutiton should be involved in sourcing and utilisation of funds from financial institutions and the whole process should be controlled by domain experts.
(viii) In order to set up an institution apart from funds real estate is absolutely necessary. The availability of size of land and necessary civil infrstructure on that piece of land would govern the size of classrooms, number of students that can be enrolled etc.
(ix) Hiring of supporting staff such as lab technicians or administrative staff for ensuring smooth operation of day to day activities of the institution also plays an improtant role in the capability of the institution.
(x) Procurement and fitment adequate training aids and lab models for experimentation by the students is also mandatory.
(b) Apart from the above, the institution also has to design an appropriate fee structure for the courses offered keeping in mind the competitors in market and brand name of the institution.
© The institution also has to have MoUs with leading industry houses for conduct of practical training for the students at factory premises and placement after completion of the course. This will go in a long way to provide industry ready students to the job hunters and high probability of placement after courses attracts more number of students to the institution.
CONCLUSION
25. It can therefore be concluded that in order to be a world class organisation, the institution has to ensure that teaching and research meets all parameters in terms of faculty, publications, patents and infrastructure etc. Most important is how much space it provides for and encourages critical thinking, how much it sensitises its students in problem-solving skills related to the society and how it acts as an incubator of ideas. A world-class institution also prepares its stuents to take global leadership positions. With India now on the global map, it is high time that the Indian educational institutes should rise to this global competition. Therefore, striving to get an international recognition/ rankings for the institution helps in making of a world-class institution. The paper makes a sincere effort towards enumerating few critical strategies towards becoming a successful world-class institution for offering part time MBA programme.